©Chateau de Breteuil
chateau de breteuil
france
The château de Breteuil was built at the beginning of the 17th century and was originally surrounded by English gardens. A the end of the 19th century, French gardens have been created by Henri and Achille Duchêne (landscape architects of the gardens at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Great Britain). At the far end of the French gardens and their water mirror, very original mosaics of box hedges beautifully links them to the English gardens.
Through cyclamen beds and the forest (tercentenary holly and chestnut trees), the visitor can continue his stroll to the romantic ponds. On the east side of the 200 acre park, the former vegetable garden-orchard has been transformed by Séverine de Breteuil at the end of the 20th century into a maze and a flower garden called the Princes’garden in memory of Edward VII, George V and Edward WIII who came at Breteuil as Princes of wales. The gardens of the château de Breteuil are classified by the Ministry of the Culture among the ”jardins remarquables” (outstanding gardens). Not far from the chateau, the dovecote is a vestige of the medieval castle (it contains 3000 pigeonholes) and the stroller can also discover the 18th century ice house. Eight Charles Perrault fairy tales are also presented in the outbuildings : for example, Puss in Boots is welcoming the visitors in the stables where Cinderella is also arriving at the ball, Blue-Beard is terrifying his wife in the Hunting room, Skin-Donkey is hidden in the washing house, and Little Red Riding Hood is visiting her grandmother in the Doll house. The château, lived in by the Breteuil family, magnificently furnished, with 50 wax figures, is also entirely opened to the public. Salons in the château or the Orangerie can be rented for holding marvelous parties.
